Statement on housing in Croydon after Grenfell Tower fire
Steve Reed has met with senior council officials to ensure all measures have been taken to ensure fire safety in the borough’s 39 council housing blocks.
Urgent checks undertaken
Following the horrific fire at Grenfell Tower, Croydon North MP Steve Reed and Croydon Central MP Sarah Jones met with Council Leader Tony Newman. They received assurances that all council blocks meet rigorous London Fire Brigade safety standards, and that urgent checks are now being carried out on all blocks with cladding. Letters are being sent to all residents in council blocks to reassure them about safety standards and provide guidance on how to keep safe in case of fire.
The Council is contacting housing associations in Croydon to make sure all their housing blocks fully comply. There are ongoing concerns about low-quality private housing blocks because the Conservative Government removed the Council’s powers to oversee the safety of new building development including conversions of office blocks into flats, a move Labour MPs voted against in Parliament.
Steve Reed MP said:
Residents’ safety must always come first, and fears are heightened after the horrific fire at Grenfell Tower. We pay tribute to the Council for their swift action to check buildings and reassure residents. But the Government must now explain why they did not fully implement the lessons from a previous fatal fire at Lakanal House in Southwark, and why they failed to carry out a fire safety review nationally.
Steven Reed is Labour MP for Croydon North and Shadow Minister for Children and Families. In 2018 his private member’s bill on reducing violent mental health restraint became law. In June 2019 he launched Labour’s civil society strategy outlining radical plans to empower citizens and communities.
Steve chairs the Cooperative Councils Innovation Network, co-chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for London, was Leader of Lambeth Council 2006-12 where he led the council’s children’s services to become best-rated in the country and pioneered the public-health approach to tackling violent youth crime. He worked in publishing for 16 years and was an elected trade union branch secretary.